Senate approved the Single Paper Ballot: it must return to the House of Representatives and would be implemented in the 2025 elections

Throughout the week, The Government explored various alternatives to hinder the holding of a session that was seen as unfavourable. In the last 48 hours, they tried to distort the intention of the opposition blocks with which they maintain dialogue to appear, provoking that the meeting falls through due to lack of quorum. Later, and after a Meeting between Javier Milei and senators from different groups with whom he has a closer relationshipthey managed to reach consensus on only two of the three issues that had been agreed upon last week.

However, in the first minutes of the session, Peronism joined the motion of the radicalism (which changed its position after criticism of members of the Deputies bloc) to include the debate on the $100 billion that SIDE received in a confidential manner. If the Senate approves it, It would be the first time in the history of our country that the National Congress repeals a DNU of the Executivegiven that the law on Decrees of Necessity and Urgency was modified in the constitutional reform of 1994.

After being unanimously approved, SME emergency declaration presented by the woman from Salta Nora Gimenez (Union for the Homeland), a project that will be passed to the House of Representatives, the electoral reform was voted on to implement the Single Paper Ballot, a project where initiatives from different federal blocks converged and had the support of the ruling party. Finally, with 38 votes in favor and 31 against (from UP) was approved and, if approved in the House of Representatives, it would be implemented in the next legislative elections in 2025.

What is the Single Paper Ballot that was approved in the Senate?

The Single Paper Ballot The bill was partially approved by the House of Representatives, but subsequent amendments made by the Senate have forced it to return to that chamber. The bill stipulates a prior process of explanatory disclosure – for both voters and table authorities – of the voting method.

In the proposal, candidates running for the same office are presented to the voter on a single ballot. This is a method which shows the entire electoral offer of a district on a single paper and the vote is expressed by marking boxes for the parties or electoral fronts for each category. In this sense, the candidates are displayed with the logo and name of the alliance, name of the list and photo of the holderswhile the substitutes appear only with their names. The inclusion of a blank box, next to the identification of the political group, is contemplated so that voting can be done by complete list.

This The project had the support of the ruling party, the PRO, the radicalism and federal spacesBoth Edith Terenzi from Chubut and Mónica Silva from Río Negro, who had presented their own projects, agreed with the majority opinion. As favorable arguments, they emphasize the equality of conditions -since the candidates have the same space-, the presumed economic savings due to the reduction of ballots and the simplification of the counting. Union for the Homeland, for its part, expressed its opposition along with Alejandra Vigo from Cordoba.

Victoria Villarruel celebrated the approval

Victoria VillarruelVice President of the Nation and head of the Senate, published a celebratory message on her social networks after the approval of the project: “Today is a very important day for our beloved Argentina. Today we approved the Single Paper Ballot“.

He also recalled that “when I took over as President of the Senate It was the first project that I pushed to be discussed in the chamber.“And I voted for it as a member of Congress because it is essential for Argentines to elect their authorities in a more transparent, clear and concrete way. It is an honor to preside over the Senate session where we finally give our people freedom, dignity and peace of mind to elect their representatives and honor the popular will.”